The embodiments described herein relate generally to gaming machines and, more particularly, to systems and methods for enabling a player proxy to execute a game play event for another player.
To initiate a play of a game on a gaming machine, a player typically inserts a token/money/voucher into the gaming machine to establish credits on the gaming machine. The player then chooses the bet amount, the number of lines to bet, and begins the game by pressing a physical button, touching a particular part of a touch screen, or pulling a lever. If the game is a winner, a prize is given to the player in accordance with the outcome of the game, pay tables, and an amount wagered.
However, some games require a player to execute various actions throughout a play of the game. For example, in a classic bingo game, a player is required to place a wager, mark (e.g., daub) a bingo card as numbers are “called”, recognize a winning pattern, and claim a prize. With a game like bingo, a time window may be allotted for a particular action (e.g., daubing) to be executed by the player. Thus, failure to execute the action within a predefined period of time results in the player forfeiting an ability to execute that particular action at that given time, which may also result in the player forfeiting a prize. While a player may be reminded that an action is needed (e.g., an input button on the gaming machine may flash, or an on-screen message may pop up reminding the player to, for example, daub the bingo card), due to factors such as distractions, forgetfulness, slow reactions, and the like, many players still miss the window of opportunity to execute a particular action and may lose a prize.